Apparatus for manufacturing pad members

Abstract

A pad, especially an athletic pad, and particularly a pad for use in contact sports to protect the wearer, in which a film of plastic material is deposited on a support and then a body of the same material with a blowing agent therein is placed on the film and the pad member is then cured (gelled and fused) with simultaneous blowing of the added body of material. The pad member is formed so that different regions thereof are different in thickness to provide for increased protection in the thicker regions while flexibility is maintained in the thinner regions of the pad member. The addition of at least one elastic strap element to the pad for retaining it in position on the body completes the construction of the pad member.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for use in making an elastomeric material having at least a portion of the thickness thereof foamed and another portion of the thickness unfoamed and comprising: an elongated support web adapted for continuous longitudinal movement, a first station operable for depositing a layer of heat fusable elastomeric material free of blowing agent on said support web, a second station for heating said first layer, a third station operable for depositing a second layer of the same elastomeric material in flowable form but containing a blowing agent on said first layer, a fourth station operable for depositing a ribbon of fusable plastic material on said second layer in at least one selected lateral region thereof, a fifth station for heating the superposed layers and the said ribbon to fuse and bond said layers and ribbon, and means downstream from said fifth station for separating the fused material from said support web. 
     
     
       2. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said web is a paper web, a supply reel from which the web is paid off for travel through said stations, and a take up reel for taking up said web after it has completed the passage through said stations. 
     
     
       3. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said web is a paper web contoured on the side facing the material deposited thereon. 
     
     
       4. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said web moves in the horizontal direction through each station. 
     
     
       5. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said web moves in the horizontal direction through each station and is adapted to be guided in an elongated path following at least said second station for cooling purposes. 
     
     
       6. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said first and third stations comprise roller coaters. 
     
     
       7. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which said second and fifth stations comprise ovens adapted to heat material therein up to about 360 degrees Fahrenheit. 
     
     
       8. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which the layer deposited in said first station is up to about one-sixteenth inch thick and each of the second layer and ribbon when deposited and prior to curing is up to about one-fourth inch thick. 
     
     
       9. An apparatus according to claim 8 in which each of said second layer and ribbon expands to up to about one-half inch when blown and cured. 
     
     
       10. An apparatus according to claim 1 which includes means for stamping out blanks of a desired configuration from said cured material and for forming thin regions therein to provide for preferred bend lines. 
     
     
       11. An apparatus according to claim 1 which includes means for inverting the material downstream from the fifth station, a planar support for the inverted material, and a blanking die comprising a sharp edged peripheral blade and at least one blunt edged bar axially shorter than said blade, said sharp edged blade cooperating with said support to cut out a blank from the material while said blunt edged bar compresses the material and forms a preferred bending region in the cut out blank. 
     
     
       12. An apparatus for use in making an elastomeric material having at least a portion of the thickness thereof foamed and comprising: an elongated paper-like support web adapted for continuous longitudinal movement, a first station operable for depositing a layer of heat fusable elastomeric plastic material free of blowing agent on said support web, the support web providing the sole support for the material layer, a second station for heating said first layer, a third station operable for depositing a second layer of the same elastomeric material in flowable form but containing a blowing agent on said first layer, a fourth station operable for depositing a ribbon of fusable plastic material on said second layer, a fifth station for heating the superposed layers and the said ribbon to fuse and bond said layers and ribbon, and means downstream from said fifth station for separating the fused material from said support web. 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the paper-like support web is embossed on the outwardly facing surface thereof to impart a desired surface texture to the material. 
     
     
       14. An apparatus for use in making an elastomeric material having at least a portion of the thickness thereof foamed and comprising: an elongated support web adapted for continuous longitudinal movement, a first roller coating station operable for depositing a layer of heat fusable elastomeric plastic material free of blowing agent on said support web, a second station for heating said first layer, a third roller coating station operable for depositing a second layer of the same elastomeric material in flowable form but containing a blowing agent on said first layer, a fourth station operable for depositing a ribbon of fusable plastic material on said second layer, a fifth station for heating the superposed layers and the said ribbon to fuse and bond said layers and ribbon, and means downstream from said fifth station for separating the fused material from said support web. 
     
     
       15. An apparatus for use in making an elastomeric material having at least a portion of the thickness thereof foamed and comprising: an elongated support web adapted for continuous longitudinal movement, a first station operable for depositing a layer of heat fusable elastomeric plastic material free of blowing agent on said support web, a second station for heating said first layer, a third station for cooling the support web and first layer, a fourth station operable for depositing a second layer of the same elastomeric material in flowable form but containing a blowing agent on said first layer, a fifth station operable for depositing a ribbon of fusable plastic material on said second layer, a sixth station for heating the superposed layers and the said ribbon to fuse and bond said layers and ribbon, and means downstream from said sixth station operable subsequent to cooling of the material for separating the fused material from said support web.